1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for mounting a central member in floating configuration within an exterior structure and, more particularly, to arrangements for mounting a heat exchanger core within a structural shell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The core matrix of a heat exchanger for industrial turbine applications is subjected to extreme thermal stresses caused by temperature differentials in the fluids passing through the heat exchanger. Additional stresses from shock and vibration may seriously affect the life of the heat exchanger. Various arrangements of the prior art are known for supporting heat exchanger devices while accommodating variations in dimension due to thermal expansion. The Kovalik U.S. Pat. No. 3,294,159 discloses a plurality of spring biased support assemblies for mounting a tube-type heat exchanger within a shell. However, such mounting arrangements as are known do not provide the desired damping of vibrational oscillations or the protection against inertial loading, both of which are considered essential in vehicle mounted heat exchanger arrangements.
Any mounting system for the heat exchanger core must be capable of reacting to inertial loading in any direction and yet allow essentially unrestrained thermal expansion of the core with respect to the housing. The mount must distribute the mount point loads into the core without requiring relatively thick local structure adjacent to the core which would give rise to large transient thermal stresses, and without producing unacceptable load concentrations. The capability of preloading the mounts is desirable to assure proper contact between the mounts and core under conditions of shock, vibration and thermal growth. The natural frequency of the unit on its mount may be a problem if it is within the engine excitation frequency ranges. Snubbing and damping are also needed to resist shock loads without excessive movement and to rapidly damp out vibrations.
Accordingly, a major object of the present invention is to provide a device for floatably mounting the core matrix of a heat exchanger to a shell by means which accommodate the variations in dimension due to thermal expansion while also protecting against vibration from the associated turbine unit and protecting against variable loads and shock.